Rain gutters commonly are mounted adjacent the horizontal edges of building roofs to collect rain water draining off the roof and carry it along generally horizontal runs to one or more generally vertical downspout(s), operable to minimize water dripping randomly off the roof edges.
A typical rain gutter is generally U-shaped, with spaced inward and outward substantially vertical side walls and a connecting horizontal bottom wall, to define an upwardly open channel. The inward side wall is secured to the building, slightly lower than or horizontally aligned with the roof line, so that water can easily drain from the roof into the gutter channel. Spaced straps or pins extend between the inward and outward side walls across the tops thereof for supporting and strengthening the gutter.
Solid debris, such as leaves, seeds, branches, etc. released from nearby plants and overlying trees, that lands on the roof can be carried by rain water, gravity, etc. to the gutter and/or downspout. As such accumulated debris can preclude proper water drainage along or from the gutter, it periodically must be cleared from the gutters. Moreover, such debris when wetted can become tangled or matted together, making the task of removal quite difficult.
Of importance to this invention, most gutters are ten feet or higher above the ground so that one can only remove the debris therein by procedures involving: (1) standing on a ground supported ladder or scaffolding; (2) by moving around on the roof; or (3) by a pole supported tool operated from the ground. The first two mentioned procedures require either the stated equipment and/or incur personal safety risks, which many homeowners realize and thus avoid. Known pole supported tools operate poorly and/or only with great effort.
Some forms of gutter cleaning tools direct air or water as jets along and into the gutter, but debris therein at best is randomly dispersed all over the underlying ground (and operator), which then must be cleaned up; while the debris at worse can become bound on gutter straps or merely be shifted along the gutter to the downspout, while yet blocking water flow from the gutter. Also, the jets frequently blow under and lift the edges of one or more of the roof shingles, potentially damaging the roof""s integrity. Even having such systems supported to allow user operation from the ground, and not from the roof, has not overcome these drawbacks and/or made such tools widely accepted.
Another form of pole supported tools commonly has two gripping tongs pivoted relative to a tool body and elongated sufficiently to extend downwardly from a position overlying the gutter to within the gutter channel. The tongs are normally spring separated to an opened position and are manually moved together to a closed position by pulling a rope from below. The intended operation in concept is thus simple, namely: lower the opened tongs until against the bottom wall of the cutter, close the tongs to pinch and collect the debris therebetween, lift the closed tongs and collected debris held therebetween from the gutter, and then open the tongs and release the debris at some convenient location spaced from the gutter.
However again, known tools of this type have not achieved much success or usage, due to the tool weight, complexity and/or inefficiencies of the tongs and their actuating structures.
For example, the tool weight appears greater when carried at a pole""s length away, particularly during extended use, and/or when one is attempting to accurately lower the tongs into and manipulate them along the overhead hidden gutter channel, and/or when the pole is not aligned vertically.
Accurate tool positioning along the gutter is imperative as both tongs must be placed between adjacent pairs of cross straps, and not on opposite sides of any strap which would preclude closed tongs from being lifted from the gutter. In any cleaning effort, the cross straps cannot be ignored as they are close together (between 10-30 inches apart), randomly spaced apart, and are hidden from a tool operator located below the gutter.
Existing tools having opened tongs that wobble freely relative to the tool body are difficult to use in that hidden gutter straps frequently end up between the closing tongs. A user might try to avoid this situation by moving the lowered tool along the gutter until one tong strikes a strap; but a wobbling tong masks the realization if this tong/strap impact is on the lateral or medial side of the tong, and/or makes accurate lateral positioning of the tong against both the bottom cutter wall and against and under the strap for reaching debris under the strap.
Further, many prior art designs fail to provide full and/or flush tong contact against the bottom of the gutter as they are closed against one another (to pick up needles, leaf stems, etc.), especially if the pole and/or tensioning rope are canted relative to the gutter. Also, the tong actuating structures further should close the tongs effectively, compared to forces needed on the pull rope.
Moreover, many known tools involve tong actuating mechanisms, levers or even the tongs that project as a high silhouette vertically over the tool body, which can become entangled in branches, wires or the like overlying the gutter to hinder the mobility of the tool in moving along the gutter.
The basic object of the invention is to provide a pole supported gutter cleaning tool, that is light in weight, of few parts economical to make and assemble, of low silhouette vertically above the gutter, and easy to use; and that can be accurately positioned between adjacent gutter cross straps for effectively removing debris from most locations along the gutter including under the cross straps.
The disclosed gutter cleaning tool has stops for holding the opened tongs at a set position, steady and without a wobble, for easily finding by feel any of the hidden gutter cross straps, suited to position the appropriate diverging tong laterally against the Located cross strap to underlie such strap for allowing through removal of any debris thereunder; and the tongs have facing end scoops with flat edges adapted to ride flush against the cutter bottom wall for effectively digging through and collecting the debris therebetween, and the closing tongs are free to move with independent oscillation for remaining flush against the gutter wall, even should either the pole and/or pull line be canted from the perpendicular to the gutter.